Finding the light

Decisions and Farewells

" I beg of you, Alibaba..." Sahbmad said. " If we don't hurry, the day of the signing ceremony will be upon us!" 

" Signing ceremony, you say?" Sinbad asked.

" In five days' time, there will be a wedding between Ahbmad and a princess of the Kou Empire. At that time, they will also be holding a ceremony signing over the citizens of Balbadd as collateral." Sahbmad replied.

" In five days?!" Alibaba asked in shock.

" The timing might prove problematic..." I told them.

Sahbmad grabbed Alibaba by the shoulder. " Please, Alibaba, stop Ahbmad! There is nothing that I can do..."

The crowd began whispering amongst itself. Sinbad walked up to Sahbmad. " I understand the situation. Would you mind leaving this to me?" He asked. " I can try mounting a protest against the Balbadd government with Sindria's allies. If nothing else, I'll put a stop to this ludicrous plan to export the people of Balbadd as slaves." The deputy king turned to Sinbad as he spoke.

" Y-Yes...but..." Sahbmad turned back to Alibaba, who looked away.

" Deputy King..." The general broke the silence. He approached Sahbmad and said " We'd better head out now, or else..."

" R-Right..." Sahbmad replied. As Sahbmad got into his carriage, the general turned to Alibaba. " Young Master, we're counting on you!"

"S-Sure."

The carriage quickly made its way towards the palace and we were left to contemplate what we had just been told.

~ Time skip to the next morning~

I was sitting silently in Aladdin's room, just staring at him, hoping he would wake up. There were dark circles barely noticeable under my eyes. I had hardly slept at all since we arrived in Balbadd with everything that was going on. Though the stitches in my shoulder weren't helping.

' Aladdin, you have to wake up soon. Everyone needs you, especially Alibaba at the moment.'

Speaking of the blond prince, I heard the door open and Alibaba walked in. He sat down and stared at Aladdin. I got up and left the room, leaving the two alone. I headed onto the roof; I didn't want to stray too far from Aladdin in case he woke up. Alibaba was talking to him, but I couldn't make out what he was saying, though the topic wasn't very hard to guess.

' Alibaba definitely has a large burden on his shoulders; saving a country. I doubt he's had to make a decision like this before. And I'm sure he partially blames himself for why Balbadd is like this in the first place. And then there's Sinbad. Alibaba looks up to him, but believes he can't be like him because of past failures. Aladdin, Alibaba really needs you right now, you're the only one who can help. You've done it before, so I know you can do it again.'

I heard someone walk into the room and Alibaba and Ja'far exited. I jumped down beside beside the two and they were startled by my sudden appearance.

" A-Alecs, were you on the roof?" Alibaba asked.

" I thought you'd might have wanted to be alone, so I waited on the roof." I replied.

" Sinbad wants to discuss the plan with everyone." Ja'far told me, so we set off to the meeting point.

When we arrived at the meeting room, Sinbad was sitting at a table in the middle of the room and Masrur stood next to him. Morgiana sat on the other side. Alibaba and I joined Morgiana while Ja'far joined Sinbad and Masrur. There was a map on the table, outlining  all the countries of the world.